Roads in Chennai turn bottlenecks as expansion projects get shelved

CHENNAI: The 10.3-km Madhavaram – Cholavaram NH stretch handles a daily traffic volume of 80,000 to 95,000 passenger cars, qualifying it for a 10-lane highway under Indian Roads Congress guidelines. However, owing to land acquisition issues and traders’ opposition, it remains as a four-lane stretch, causing severe hardship to commuters for over a decade.

Similarly, the 22-km stretch between Padi and Thiruninravur, where six-laning was dropped in 2012 due to traders’ opposition, has become a major traffic bottleneck for vehicles heading to Tirupati and for freight movement to Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.